Frolicking in the Fields
by Velveteen
Summary: Chapter One - Frodo is tired of abiding by the Big Rule Book of Epic Questing, and wants to play Go Fish. 1 of 3 chapters.


So, I'm not a crazy big fan of LoTR, and just saw the first one. Last night, actually. My friend and I were discussing it, as she is a LoTR expert, and I am not. Okay, we were really just discussing Legolas. ^^;;; I was talking about how the movie was lacking in cute Elvish and Hobbitian smiles. She told me that people aren't supposed to smile during epics. This is where I hatched an evil scheme. I would like to thank Faith for her kind expertise help in telling me exactly how the lay of Middle Earth went, and the core plot because I forget these things. ---  
  
I am pleased to announce the coming of the Three-Part Series, based on the harrowing epic tale of the Fellowship:  
  
**Frolicking in the Fields**  
  
Part One: Frodo's Epic Game of Go Fish  
  
*This takes place when they are all resting on the mountain/hill and the crows have just gone by. Forgive me for not knowing the name of it. ^^;;  
  
Gandalf looked over to see Frodo sitting with his back to the group. The old wizard sighed. The Ring was such a burden to put on such a tiny cute youth with intense blue eyes. He heavily got up from his seat, and moved towards Frodo, put an encouraging hand on his shoulder, "I know the journey is tough, young Frodo," Gandalf began, and then stopped. Frodo was not bathing in melancholy thoughts at all. In fact, he was smiling and shuffling a deck of brightly colored cards.  
  
"Frodo," said the wizard sternly, "how many times have I told you that we cannot play cards, as we are on a epic quest, and no where in the Big Rule Book of Epic Questing does it say that one is allowed to play cards."  
  
"But . . ."said Frodo sadly, "I like playing cards." His incredibly intense blue eyes grew watery and his lip trembled, "I volunteered to go on this trip so I could do the world good, not so I could suffer."  
  
"You have a good point there," said Gandalf, and sat down next to Frodo, "So, what are you playing?"  
  
Frodo smiled, "I wanted to play Go Fish."  
  
The wizard tried not to flinch. There could be no way a hero of this epic could want to play Go Fish. And there he was smiling again! No smiling during Epic Quests! He was breaking about a dozen rules by him to talking to Frodo during the Time of Hero Silently Contemplating the Journey. He glanced around to make sure no one else had heard of this Go Fish.  
  
They were all busy gathering food and whatnot, and Legolas was faithfully following the half hour ritual of Combing the Elven Hair So One Will Look Pretty During Scheduled Battles.  
  
"Alright," sighed Gandalf, "I will play Go Fish with you because you are the Ring Bearer and its my job as a wizard to let you decide these things as decreed by the Big Rule Book of Epic Questing."  
  
This time Frodo's face lit up with joy. Gandalf groaned silently at this. He then fell over as Frodo proceeded to stand up and ask, "Who wants to play Go Fish?"  
  
The rest of the group stared at him.  
  
Aragorn put aside his sword sharpening tools, "Mister Frodo, do you mean you want to go fishing, or to. . ." he gulped, "to play Go Fish?"  
  
"Go Fish!" Frodo's smile faded a little as everyone continued to stare at him. However, the other little Hobbits eagerly abandoned their tasks of fooding themselves/making it painfully obvious as to where they were located, and sat down around the wizard.  
  
Sam was enthusiastic about actually having fun as opposed to having to be saved from death numerous times, "Remember when we used to play Go Fish with Bilbo, Frodo?" he asked. Gandalf twitched, and stood up.  
  
"Men, Hobbits, Dwarves, and Elves! I would like to remind everyone present that Reminiscing About the Good Life is reserved for just before one goes to bed! I would also like to say that, even though the Big Rule Book of Epic Questing forbids card games of any sort, we shall play just this once, and never speak of it again!" his eyes flashed threateningly.  
  
Legolas slowly put down his brush, "You mean to say that we are actually going to join in Frodo's . . .his . . .card game?"  
  
"Just this once, if that's alright, Legolas," Frodo said in a small voice.  
  
Legolas smiled and walked over, walked over and sat between Pippin and Merry, "I would be honored," he said.  
  
The two men and Gimli looked at each other then joined the group. Frodo sat back down, and continued to shuffle his cards, "Does everyone here know how to play?" he asked.  
  
Gimli blushed. "Actually, ah no, I ah, don't recall," he said.  
  
"Quite alright," replied Frodo, and told him the rules: "I pass out five cards to each of you. You look at the cards, and find the kind of card you have the most of, such as queens. You then ask another player if they have any queens. If they do not, they reply, 'Go Fish!' and you have to pick up a card. If they have the card they must give it to you. Once you have four of a kind, you may remove the four from your hand, and show them to everyone, and place them in front of you. The person with the most four of a kind wins."  
  
"Okay," said the dwarf, and scratched his head.  
  
Frodo dealt the cards. Gandalf sitting next to him, immediately put down four aces. Sam squinted at him, "that never happens."  
  
Gandalf shrugged and said, "Ah well, Wizard luck."  
  
They continued through around four times. Even Gimli had a good time, though he was told to Go Fish every single time he asked Frodo if he had any threes. "Arr, ye have no heart," Gimli said as he picked up another card. Frodo replied, "Yeah, that's because the only cards I have are spades, clubs and diamonds." Even though the joke was cheesy, everyone laughed at it, and even Gandalf snickered. But each time it was Gandalf's turn, he was putting down a four of a kind; fives, twos, and jacks. When Gandalf put down four of a kind jokers, everyone began to become suspicious.  
  
"Hey Gandalf," asked Aragorn, "I don't think that's possible."  
  
Gandalf looked at the four jokers he put down, became uneasy, and laughed, "Ohahaha," he said,, "well it looks like I won anyways because its not possible for anyone to get higher than five four of a kinds, since Frodo clearly has two already." He stood up, and reached in his bag for something to smoke.  
  
Legolas coughed, "A-HEM," he said, and also stood up. Frodo looked at both of them.  
  
Legolas looked pointedly at Gandalf, "I think you cheated," he said.  
  
Gandalf gasped, "Why would you ever suspect such a thing?!"  
  
"Because only two jokers come in a deck," he replied, and did the intense look that he did throughout the entire movie that's not too different from how he normally looks.  
  
Gandalf puffed on his pipe thoughtfully, "That might be it. Ah well, game over, nothing we can do. You Legolas can go back to brushing your hair and everyone else can angstily stand around." He pointed at Frodo and said sternly, "I want you to be good and depressed by the end of the day, young Hobbit."  
  
Frodo was already feeling pretty depressed since everyone had been talking and laughing at the beginning of the game, and even smiling. However, he knew that no smiling was allowed on the Epic Quest. Even so, he thought it was a lot better than the other way. Now everyone had gone back to what they were doing before. Except . . .Legolas sat down next to Frodo, still brushing his hair.  
  
"Frodo," said Legolas, looking out over the beautiful scenery, "I know how it feels to be under pressure all the time. I'm sorry it has to be this way, but the Big Rule Book of Epic Questing decrees it. But . . ."  
  
He let drop a piece of folded paper into Frodo's lap, then got up to put away his brush and to begin the daily Sharpening of Arrows so One Can Kill Really Fast.  
  
Frodo slowly unfolded the paper.  
  
On it was written, "Frolicking in the Fields, be prepared."  
  
He smiled and pocketed the paper. 


End file.
